Wisdom – Page 39 – Home's Cool!

The Doldrums

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Katharine

What Do We Do?

We’re sailing along just fine when we come to the place of great heat and no breeze.

We row and row and it’s just killing us and we cannot find any solution to that sluggish funk. Our get up and go has got up and gone.

Well, we have choices.

We can just wait. Eventually, within the Doldrums, a breeze will come, will shift, will carry us out. It can take a long time, though, and we can lose much productivity that way, can die of thirst and starvation.

We can pray. When God sends a breeze, it is His Holy Spirit. He understands. He fills us but we leak. His supply is never-ending. No prob.

We can find like-minded people who don’t mind standing next to us and shedding some of their sparkle on us. That is the hard one. People don’t stand beside people, anymore. They sit before computers. Computers don’t hug. Don’t sparkle. Don’t pray. So, the computer dependent people don’t either.

I know, I know, Paul sent out handkerchiefs, so you could send me an email.

But I need a handkerchief. I need to hold in my hand something you have held in your hand. I need to feel the warmth of your skin as you embrace me. I need to feel your breath blowing through my hair as you hold me and pray for me. I need you, physically present, if only in a physical letter.

Don’t bludgeon me with bits and bites.

Bless me.

Or we can do all three. We can wait upon the Lord and renew our strength. We can pray for new inspiration. We can call upon our friends, our fellow travelers, to stand by us.

Isn’t that how it is? Isn’t that how it was meant to be?

Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures: Mountains

Posted on August 7, 2011August 7, 2011 by Katharine

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalm 125:2

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

. . . if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2b

Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

Posted on July 29, 2011July 30, 2011 by Katharine

Broken things lead to other broken things. They can be like dominos. An exploding lightbulb can knock over a fragile vase. A broken tree can break another tree as it falls:

broken tree breaking tree — Broken Tree Breaking Tree

These trees, near our chicken house, are probably going to fall onto the chicken yard fence and break it, too. Ever try to bend or move a tree? Think of the extreme power in a falling tree that it can bend, and even break, a tree near it.

When we humans break, we need to be careful how we fall. We have the above type of power over our fellow man, sometimes.

But look at this:

This poor old tree, though obviously having seen better days, someone has mended in hopes it will last a bit longer. I like its pluck. See how it seems to be trying to dance with the grasses?

May we all try to copy it!

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom, Wives

Get All You Can–Can All You Get – Part 4

Posted on July 28, 2011March 27, 2018 by Katharine

One Morning's Canning success, SAVED for those "chili and soup" days! — One morning’s work, SAVED for chili, soup, and spaghetti!

The Master Potter!

Sisters, we truly are like canning jars (2 Corinthians 4:7). God calls us to belong to Him for a reason, and that is to contain the treasures of His Holy Kingdom, but first we need to be clean jars. He is very careful and does not store valuable things in dirty vessels. So the first step for us is to be saved, delivered from the dirt to which we’ve been accustomed (John 3:7). If we are not “Spiritual” we cannot take in Spiritual treasures (1 Corinthians 2:14).

We must also be unabused, emotionally “whole” people: no cracked-pots (Acts 8:18-23). What joy we have in knowing we serve the God who knows how to fix us broken jars!

Then we must be set apart for His use, separated from the world and it’s contamination, as with that flat lid, sealed by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:13-14.) The screw bands are like the Law, holding us in separation (Romans 7:7) until The Seal takes effect, and then are unneeded and removed from over us.

The cooker is this present world (John 16:33). The heat and pressure are our trials (James 1:2-3, 2 Corinthians 4:8). The timing is God’s alone (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11). All the elements of successful food storage are mirrored in God’s beautiful work of preparing us “earthen vessels” to hold His treasures.

It is such a joy to be the bearer of God’s good things. He can open us up and use us to bless those who would die without His goodness in their lives (Psalm 145:15, Ephesians 2:10). Many who would turn away from God are drawn to what they see in us (John 15:8, 16). He can place us wherever He desires, to give the gift of His goodness whenever He pleases (2 Timothy 4:2). His Life is not just for Sunday Church!

The sad thing is that there can be failure in this endeavor, as in home canning, and the results are just as putrid when left undetected. Doesn’t the mention of your favorite failed evangelist make you cringe? Spoiled food, and rotten Treasure both are unusable, offensive, and poison (Jude 12,13).

The only real difference between any one of us and these people is that their unseparated condition, cracked rim, or whatever the problem, went a long time unnoticed and unfixed. A spoiled jar can explode.

The solution is always to submit to God’s dumping us out and cleaning us (Ephesians 5:25-26), to allow Him to adjust us, and to go joyfully into the pan of pressures and heat. Then when He refills us (Ephesians 5:18), we will “hold”.

And what if you are broken, cracked, or chipped either before or during your time in God’s service?

You do not have to be smashed and thrown away.

We serve the God who knows how to mend the broken pieces of our lives (Jeremiah 18:1-8).

Submit to Him. Let Him clean you, mend you, fill you, seal you, and use you.

The end.

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Health, Herbs, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom, Womanhood

Get All You Can–Can All You Get – Part 3

Posted on July 27, 2011March 27, 2018 by Katharine

romantic rose honey — Romantic Rose Honey

Cannng Failure and the Moral of the Story!

Let’s talk a moment about canning failure. Although any canned food that fails to seal is acceptable if refrigerated and eaten within 3 days, undetected failure gives you food that is spoiled. It is unusable, offensive, and poison.

Either way, we must empty the jar, clean it, and try to find and fix the problem.

If the only trouble was debris on the jar rim, or a defective flat, it is an easy fix. Refill it next time and it will work fine.

However, if that rim is the problem, the jar is useless the way it is. Unless you know someone who knows how to do the impossible job of fixing a broken jar, the best thing you can do is to get it out of your life so you can avoid those problems in the future. It’s best to place it inside a bag, break it, and throw it away, to prevent its accidental re-use.

Sisters, we are the jars.

Yes, we are the earthen vessels that God uses for storage. But instead of physical nourishment, the things stored within us are spiritual life-giving treasures.

He gives His Living Word (Rhema) to us (John 1:1-4). It is so refreshing, like fresh fruit to our bodies, satisfying thirst and energizing us, but must be handled with extreme care.

Then He sustains us with His Written Word (Logos), which is also life-giving to us, the routine staple diet every Christian needs and longs for (John 20:31).

He also desires us to contain His meat: obedience and righteousness (John 4:32, 34; Hebrews 5:12-14).

Why does God desire to store His heavenly treasures within us? So that much good can come from these treasures here on this earth. God’s ways are difficult for the unchurched to know of. As vessels, we make the Kingdom more available and more palatable to the spiritually starving.

There is much we can do to make careless people notice God favorably (Romans 10:14). You’ve heard the saying: “You are the only Bible some people will ever read.” Another Christian saying goes: “Do not force the reason for your hope upon those who don’t ask for it, but live so that they will ask.”

Oftentimes God also uses us to make His Kingdom more understandable to some who desire it but are confused (Acts 8:30-31).

He uses us to make the Kingdom more easily acceptable to others (1 Corinthians 9:19-22).

It’s that dinner invitation, soft answer, or offer of baby-sitting that can woo people to Christ who would otherwise never turn to him. We are always to be His containers.

Just like the food we pressure can, God’s treasure within us must be prepared for the process. We must be sure it is clean, pure wisdom; no dirt or bug spots allowed (James 3:17).

Sometimes we cannot receive it all at once, either, any more than a jar could receive a whole potato (John 8:31-32, 16:12-13).

Sometimes it simply “goes in” better once it’s been softened by teaching, summary, or example (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Tomorrow: The Master Potter!

Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

What Are We Doing?

Posted on July 18, 2011July 18, 2011 by Katharine

Enjoy this, the first published article I ever wrote, over sixteen years ago, for An Encouraging Word magazine, published out of Oklahoma. I got $20 for it, back then!

It is taken from Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 7, and John 12.

Once there was a woman who loved Jesus so much, that she did something so radical, that she incurred such unreasonable wrath from those around her, that the Lord Jesus was pleased to publicly defend her.

What she did was not illegal. She had not stolen anything, nor lied, nor killed anyone in the process of her actions. So why was she censored?

I believe it was because what she did was something that should only be done to God. It was an act of unadulterated adoration, totally unfitting to be performed for a mere human, however good that person might be.

This is what she did: She took something of hers that was worth around $50,000.00 and destroyed it at this man’s feet, all the while crying and kissing him. (He was not her husband.) She did this in public. In fact, it was before a large gathering of his friends and acquaintances.

“But He was God,” you say.

“He IS God,” you add.

True; how easy for us to have such excellent hindsight! But this woman had the gift of faith, Scripture tells us, to know Jesus as Messiah (before that telling moment of resurrection) and the crowd around her did not. Her actions were proper,but her critics simply were unable to agree.

In fact, her critics were embarrassed to the point of making up some fumbling arguments about the poor people in some poor place somewhere. Dollar amounts were rumored around. People were generally appalled.

Do you wonder how this relates to us?

I propose that most home educating parents are doing the same thing. Those of us who realize our children are the most precious things we have, are investing their entire lives at the feet of Jesus.

It is not illegal, but it has caused quite an embarrassed public stir. We hear all the traditional fumbling arguments about cost, socializing, college, etc. They say our children have been wasted and they cannot understand why. We have incurred wrath; we have critics who would love to censor us.

But you are right. He IS God.

By faith, somehow, we are able to know that our actions are proper. The telling moment of high ACT scores is upon us.

Rejoice with great joy! He is pleased to defend us!

Inspiring, Sayings, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures — Hot

Posted on July 17, 2011July 16, 2011 by Katharine

“But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.” –Job 6:15-17

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” –Revelation 3:15-16